Lakeside is a small settlement at the south end of Windermere. Now in the English county of Cumbria, before county reorganisation of 1974 it was in Lancashire. It was established as a steamer pier for services along the lake when the Lakeside branch of the Furness Railway reached there in 1869, meaning that steamer services no longer had to negotiate the River Leven to Newby Bridge. Also built at Lakeside was a hotel to serve the tourists brought by the railway and steamers.
The steamers still call at Lakeside and the railway is now a steam-hauled heritage railway, operated as the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway. However, it now only operates as far as Haverthwaite, with the route beyond to Ulverston closed as part of the Beeching cuts.
There is now an impressive aquarium featuring fish found in the rivers and seas around the Lake District.
